Gender differences in early childhood development are under-researched in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where almost 90% of the world's young children live. This study examines the direction, magnitude, and variation of gender similarities and differences in 3- and 4-year-olds' early childhood development in 71 low- and middle-income…

Research Findings: Home-based early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a popular form of small-group ECEC, with potential to facilitate high-quality conversations during shared book reading. To investigate how home-based early childhood educators (ECEs) take advantage of learning opportunities, educators read two storybooks with children…

PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) was inaugurated in 2001 as a follow-up to International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's 1991 Reading Literacy Study. Conducted every five years, PIRLS assesses the reading achievement of young students in their fourth year of schooling--an important transition…

This collection of articles deals with the plight of preschool children in developing countries and contemporary thought in the field of child care. In "Speaking Freely--Highlights of a Roundtable Discussion on the Preschool Child, with a 'Commentary' by Dr. William M. Schmidt," 18 doctors exchange ideas about the major problems in child…

Includes "Community Development in Areas of Political and Social Conflict" (Oliver); "Women and Development in Peru" (Barrig); "Some Reflections on Community Development Experiences in Brazil" (O'Gorman); "Informal Networks for Pre-School Children in a Black Community in South Africa" (Lines); "The…

The argument of this paper is that in Africa, women in the past, received much support from the extended family and residential household in performing their task in child-rearing and providing early childhood education. The break up of the residential compound life, in the typical African residential household, three or more generations lived…

This document consists of the three 1998 issues of The Bernard van Leer Foundations'"Early Childhood Matters." This periodical, addressed to practitioners in the field of early childhood development, evolved from an in-house publication directed to projects funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. Articles in the February 1998 edition…

In Sub-Saharan Africa, severe adverse conditions have placed children at high risk: persistent and worsening poverty, rapid economic change and population growth, increasing urbanization, a changing family structure, growing numbers of orphaned refugees, and displaced women and children from internal civil strife. These conditions make a viable…

The Preprimary Project is a comprehensive comparative study of early childhood services in nations on four continents. This report describes the project, the instrument devised to measure the project's effectiveness, and some preliminary findings. The project is sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational…

This document is a collection of three papers originally prepared as part of a series of public lectures presented by the Faculty of Education at the University of Rhodesia. Each paper stresses the vital need to examine assumptions made about the pupil in school to see whether provisions made for him are really in accordance with his present and…

Children in Sub-Saharan Africa face the greatest challenges to healthy development of any region in the world. This report presents reviews of 11 Early Childhood Development programs, studied to define financial and institutional conditions necessary to sustain early intervention efforts. Interviews and existing documentation from governmental and…